Never Say Goodbye
by Heartsafire
Summary: This is a Niz story. It is about finding your forever true love.


Don't have any rights to these characters, cause if I did they'd be doing the things I show them doing rather than what the show has them doing

Never Say Goodbye

"Elizabeth, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, Nicholas," she wailed flinging herself into his receptive arms, "It's Jake they say he has leukemia and that if we don't find a bone marrow donor soon he'll die."

"There, there," he said, holding her close and breathing in the freesia scent of her shampoo, "It's going to be all right. I am sure either you or Lucky are going to be a match for him."

"No, no! You don't understand!" She was pounding at his chest with her tiny, pale, frail fists. "I've been tested and I'm not a match, Cam's not a match, and Lucky…well, there's no point to having him tested." She was leaving tear stains on his expensive silk shirt but he didn't care, his heart ached for her.

"Liz," he grasped her firmly by her shoulders and looked at her with a serious expression, "Lucky has to be tested, he's Jake's father, he's his only hope."

"No, he isn't," Elizabeth whispered looking at him guiltily.

He had never seen her look so beautiful before, not even under the moon as they walked in the gardens at Wyndemere. No, he couldn't think about that now. This was important, Elizabeth needed him and he wasn't going to fail her.

"He isn't," he said puzzled, "You always said he was his father, are you sure he's not?"

"I know he's not," A delicate blush was spreading across her cheeks and her eyes, shimmering azure pools, were distracting him from her delectable lips.

"Well, who is?' He was running his fingers softly up and down her bare arms, a trail of goose bumps following in their track.

"You are." She bit her plump, red, lower lip and waited breathlessly for his reaction.

"Me?" A deep furrow appeared between his eyes and his eyes turned black and forbidding. "When, how?"

"The night of the blackout," she was simpering shyly, a small half smile on her lips, "You remember, I was upset with Lucky and I visited friends, people that I could care about-you, Jason…I needed comfort, Nicholas. I took it where I could find it."

"Jason!" He thrust her from him in disgust, "How do I know Jake isn't his? Why don't you go and ask him to be tested and leave me and my brother out of it, you whore!"

"Nicholas, don't leave me!" Elizabeth lay crumpled on the floor, weeping, as her world crumbled around her.

_____

"Nicholas!" He hadn't heard Lucky approach him as he sat miserably in the cold night air staring blindly out over the dark, light streaked water of the harbor. "What's wrong?"

"You don't know?" It was bad enough that the woman he had loved so long and from afar had thrown that love back in his face he didn't want his brother's trust to be tarnished as well.

"Know what?" Lucky looked at him with brotherly concern, "What happened?"

"Jake's sick, leukemia." He knew it should be Elizabeth who told him but he was done worrying about what she would want. Lucky was his brother he deserved to know what was occurring with the health of the little boy he thought was his own.

"What, no that can't be! How do you know?" Lucky was wild eyed in his anguish and his fear.

"Elizabeth told me." He was amazed at the way his heart felt like a piece of lead when he said her name.

"She…told you and not…" Lucky stammered, his eyes showing how betrayed he felt.

Nicholas stood up and placed a sympathetic hand on his brother's shoulder. He didn't say a word, just nodded.

_______

"Elizabeth!" Jason strode across the pediatric waiting room. "Where is he, where's Jake? Why didn't you tell me he was sick?"

"Oh, Jason," Elizabeth was as beautiful as he remembered her, "Who told you about Jake?"

"Carly, but that's not important. What matters is that I am here now. I stopped by the blood bank downstairs and got tested." He proudly extended his right arm, showing her the band aid over the cotton ball in the crook of his elbow. "I'm sure I'll be a match. Then after Jake is all cured, you and he and Cameron will come and live at the penthouse. It will be the family I always wanted."

"Jason," Elizabeth said, tears brimming in her eyes, "Why couldn't you have decided this before when it would have meant something, when it would have mattered instead of now when it's all too late."

"Too late?" Jason cocked his head, his crystalline eyes reading into her very soul. "It's not too late. I told you once Jake is better, we'll be a family. It'll be fine you'll see…"

"No, you don't understand," Elizabeth was weeping now, the teardrops perfect orbs of sorrow. "You can't make Jake better, you won't be a match for him and we'll never be a family. Oh, why couldn't Carly keep her mouth shut for once!"

"How do you know I won't be a match, Elizabeth?" Jason was scowling suspiciously at her. He sensed there was something she hadn't told him.

"Because you're not Jake's father," she said weakly.

Jason exploded, he grabbed her by arms, mimicking the tenderness of Nicholas' grip. "Jake isn't mine? I gave up Sam, my hope of a future with her. I have been agonizing for years about not being able to be a father to that little boy and now you say he isn't even mine. What kind of a witch are you?" He was shaking her back and forth, she was powerless to stop him.

"That's enough Morgan. Let her go!" They hadn't noticed Lucky coming into the room.

Jason stopped shaking Elizabeth and just stood there, his hands still pressing on her arms with enough force to leave bruises. He couldn't remember the last time he had lost his temper like that. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I would never…" He couldn't finish the sentence, all his dreams were crushed. He removed his hands from her and ignoring Lucky turned and left the room.

"Are you all right, Elizabeth? Did he hurt you?" Lucky's voice was tender as he looked at her tear stained face with concern.

"No, he didn't hurt me." Elizabeth's voice was trembling, she seemed to be in shock. "I just told him something he didn't want to hear."

"You told him the truth, didn't you Elizabeth?" Lucky was eager, excited even. "You told him that he wasn't Jake's father didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, Lucky." She said looking up at him out of eyes that he thought he could swim in like a tropical lagoon.

"It's okay, Elizabeth," he said softly, "I always thought maybe he wasn't Jake's father. Now, that the truth is out in the open it will be better for everybody. I'll go get tested and then when Jake is cured we can be a family just like you always wanted."

"Oh, Lucky," she didn't think she could do this for the third time tonight but she knew she didn't have a choice. "Jason's not Jake's father but neither are you."

"What?" He looked at her in stunned amazement, "It had to be Jason or me, that's what you said. Who else could be Jake's father?"

She looked down at the floor, her chestnut curls hiding her heart shaped face, "Nicholas," she whispered.

_____

"You son of a bitch!" The fist came out of nowhere and landed solidly on Nicholas chin, tipping him backwards off his barstool.

"Lucky?" Nicholas said, blood dribbling down from his mouth where he had bitten his lip when his brother's fist had made contact with his face.

"You smug faced hypocrite," Lucky snarled, standing over his fallen brother, his hands on his hips. "You knew didn't you, when I saw you at the docks, you knew Jake was yours."

"What are you talking about?" Nicholas climbed awkwardly to his feet, his head was aching and his jaw hurt, his brother packed quite a punch.

"Elizabeth told me. I found her and Jason arguing at the hospital she told him Jake wasn't his and so then I expected she would say he was mine but that isn't what happened. No, instead, it turns out that she didn't just visit the local mob enforcer the night of the blackout but my brother as well. You're quite the stand up kinda of guy aren't you, Nicholas?" All the hurt and anger in Lucky's voice hurt Nicholas far more than a thousand punches to his face.

"I swear to you, I didn't know until tonight, Lucky. I always thought Jake was yours. Elizabeth just told me about it tonight. I barely remember that night. We were both drunk, both hurting. It didn't mean anything."

"Well, it meant enough," Lucky glared at him, "It produced a little boy that doesn't deserve to die. You need to get tested and do right by him. As for you and Elizabeth-well, the two of you do deserve each other." He turned on his heel and headed out into the cold night air where he could breathe.

_____

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" Nicholas wasn't in the mood for any more confrontations tonight. He just wanted to get blind stinking drunk.

"I had to come, what happened to your face?" She reached a gentle, caring hand up to examine the bruise on his jaw and his split lip.

"Nothing," he pulled away from her worried examination and headed over to the bar to pour himself a brandy.

"It was Lucky wasn't it?" She said with quiet certainty, her eyes a cloudy indigo. "Oh, Nicholas, this is all my fault!" She sank down on the sofa, and buried her weeping face into a pillow.

His heart breaking, Nicholas sat beside her stroking her enticing hair, his need to get drunk entirely forgotten in the headiness of her mere presence. "Ssh, Elizabeth, don't cry, this isn't your fault, it's nobody's fault. I'll go get tested tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be a match. Then after Jake is healthy again, you and the boys can come live here at Wyndemere with Spencer and me. We'll be a happy family, you, me and the boys, just like you always wanted."

"Oh, Nicholas," Elizabeth was sitting up now, staring at out of eyes that were like sapphire stars, "Do you meant it? You really want to be with me?"

"More than anything," he murmured, his hand already reaching in to unbutton her blouse, his lips blending with hers as he tasted cherry flavored lip gloss.

"Make love to me," she whispered urgently, breathless with abandon. "Never let me go."

"I never will," he vowed as he took her in his arms and made her his.

________

It was a perfect summer day, the only clouds in the sky were fluffy little ones and bluebirds flittered to and fro their light chirpings the ideal accompaniment to the chamber orchestra. The guests murmured quietly as they sat amongst the beauty that was Wyndemere's rose garden in full bloom.

Waiting at the altar was an old man dressed in the traditional black robes of the Greek Orthodox Church. Off to his left stood the groom in a grey morning tux, he was carved from granite but not so the best man who constantly fidgeted.

"Lucky, stop that!" Nicholas hissed out of the corner of his mouth, irate with his brother's and best man's inappropriate behavior.

"I can't help it," whined Lucky, "I'm hung-over and I'm nervous, what if I drop the rings or something."

"I am the one who is entitled to be nervous, but I'm not because I'm getting married to the woman of my dreams. So, if I'm good, you should be too, stop fidgeting!" The brothers exchanged a quick conspiratorial smile. They had long since made peace and were now once again friends as well as brothers.

The sound of trumpets echoed across the island and the guests turned craning their necks to observe the little tow headed boy carefully carrying a blue and white pillow upon which the rings were nestled. Jake grinned at all the people he knew among the guests and the pillow suddenly tilted down scattering the gold bands on the white cloth leading to the altar. Lulu Spencer dashed down the aisle and helped Jake gather up the rings and replace them on the pillow. Then hand in hand the two visions of blond perfection continued their journey to the altar where a smiling Nicholas and Lucky awaited them.

There she was a vision in ivory satin and tulle, poised to walk down the aisle into a future with the man and family of her dreams. There was an audible gasp as the guests had their first look at the bride, her loveliness eclipsed the beauty of her dress a hundredfold. Taking a deep breath and smiling with blinding joy, Elizabeth clasped Patrick's arm and began her last ever walk down a wedding aisle. When she finally stood next to Nicholas, their eyes beheld no one else. They were a world unto one another.

"I shall never say goodbye to you, my darling Elizabeth, even death shall not separate us," Nicholas obsidian eyes flashed as he promised her eternity.

As they stood before the clapping guests, now introduced to the world as Mr. and Mrs. Cassidine, Elizabeth leaned over and murmured softly into his ear, "I am going to hold you to what you said, Mr. Cassidine, me and this wee one inside here." She patted her flat belly complacently.

Nicholas' jaw dropped as he stared at her astonished, "You don't mean…?"

Elizabeth nodded smugly, "It better be a girl," she said smiling joyfully.

"Yes," he agreed clasping her face between both his hands as he leaned in to kiss her passionately, "Laura Audrey Cassidine," he uttered reverently, not hearing the spontaneous cheers erupting all around them.

I really, really hope you decide to review, I worked hard on this story


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